Thunder Bay Business August 2012 colour

Successful Thunder Bay Business Turns 50: Smith’s RV CentreSee Inside Pages 5-12

THUNDER BAY CELEBRATESCOMPLETION OF PHASE ONE

See5

“2012 ThunderBay Business

Opinion SurveySuggests

OptimismSee Page 2

YURI STEZENKO2012 Recipient ofthe Life Member

Designation

ONLINE COUNSELLING

GOES LIVE IN THUNDER BAY

The ShockingTruth About Your

ImageFour bizarre rea-

sons customersmay not like you

Toronto Is ADefinite Place To

Visit

August 2012

Executive Summary

Completion of the “2012 Thunder BayBusiness Opinion Survey” marks the fif-teenth year since the inception of thesurvey, which gives a voice to the smallbusiness community of the region. TheThunder Bay Business Opinion Surveyprovides third parties with an in-depthanalysis of the thoughts of small busi-nesses. The findings of the surveyinclude both quantitative and qualitativeaspects, and also examine the recent andfuture environmental conditions thatsmall businessesoperate under. Every effort was made toensure that the statistics and data repre-sented the population and that all biaswas eliminated.The survey presented findings in severalkey areas that should be noted:

1. Hiring expectations for the next 12months have decreased in comparison tolast year’s results, with 49% of firmsplanning to hire additional employees,down from 51% in 2011. 51% of firmsare not planning to hire additionalemployees, and 0% of firms are planningto lay off employees. The employmenttrends in the last five years indicate thatthe number of firms planning to expandis increasing. It is important to note thatfirms currently have an average of 6 fulltime workers and 4 part timers.

2. 74% of respondents feel that econom-ic growth in Thunder Bay is positive.There has been a significant trend in thepast four years indicating that smallbusiness owners are more confident thatthe economy is on its track to recovery.In 2009 only 28% of respondents hadoptimistic thoughts in regards to eco-nomic growth, and over the past three

years it has continually increased to itspeak percentage of 74% in the currentyear.

3. The belief that the mining industry ishaving a positive impact on ThunderBay’s economy has remained consistent-ly strong over the past three years.Thunder Bay’s small business ownersgave mining a score of 3.85 out of 5,ranking it as the most important industrysector. Mining isalso ranked very high in regards to itsimportance to the future of Thunder Bay,while respondents feel that forestry isnot important to the future of our econo-my. The OLG Casino has a steady scoreof 2.45, indicating that business ownersstill have negative thoughts towards theimpact of the casino. The score of thewaterfront development has increasedsignificantlysince last year, from 2.99 to 3.55, indi-cating that small business owners aregaining faith in the benefits of thisprocess.

4. Small business owners showed a sig-nificant increase in their feelings towards

future security. In 2011, 83% of smallbusinesses possessed a feeling of securi-ty, while the 2012 survey saw that num-ber increase to 85%. This increase showsa strong positive trend since 2005. Thisshould be monitored closely in the futureto determine what affect the current con-ditions are having on small businesses.

5. Respondents’ perceptions in regards tothe City of Thunder Bay meeting theirneeds are not positive. Almost every fac-tor that was questioned has droppedfrom last year’s results, all the results arebelow the midpoint of three. This indi-cates that the City of Thunder Bay is notmeeting the needs of Thunder Bay’ssmall business owners.

6. Small business owners seem to have areached a common opinion that raisingtaxes in the short- term to eliminate thedeficits at a faster pace is not a goodidea. 69% of respondents feel negativelyabout this idea, which is following atrend in comparison with the previousyear’s results. However, this is a signifi-cant drop from the 87% in 2011.

Royden Potvin, Manager ThunderBay Ventures

“ When we ask small business abouttheir future business prospects they comeback positive. It is good news, hiringexpectation are there. This is a very goodindicator of how people are feeling abouttheir business.”“ We have businesses generally under

30 employees, not franchises or big boxstores. We want to get to the owner ofthe business that lives in town. ThunderBay has an aging population in this citythat is reflected in the age of our respon-dents to the survey.”“ We could see a dip in the economy but

I think it may be more because of thegovernment cut backs. Our real dip waswhen the forestry downturn occurred.The waterfront is a positive now becausethey see action and people coming downto the waterfront.”“ In the mining area many of the invest-ments are still developing.”

PAGE 2 THUNDER BAY BUSINESS AUGUST 2012

BY SCOTT A. SUMNERThunder Bay BUSINESS

“2012 Thunder Bay Business Opinion SurveySuggests Optimism

By Sherry Aalto

Recently the Thunder Bay CounsellingCentre, in partnership with CatholicFamily Development Centre andChildren’s Centre Thunder Bay, proudlyannounced that online counseling serviceswould now be available. You now havethe option to access professional counsel-ing at the click of a mouse. Thunder BayCounselling Centre Executive Director,

Nancy Chamberlain, says “The internet ischanging the way people shop, connectwith friends, do banking and as of today,also changes the way people in the city getaccess to health services. Online counsel-ing completely changes the way counsel-ing is conducted in Thunder Bay. Anyonewho can navigate the web, can enter theworld of online counselling.The ‘go-live’ event was held at theThunder Bay Counselling Centre, located

at 544 Winnipeg Avenue. Those in atten-dance got to witness the online service firsthand as a counselor demonstrated how asession works. The service is based onconfidential, secure e-mail exchanges, cre-ating an automatic transcript of all sessionsfor the client. Children’s Centre ThunderBay Executive Director, Tom Walters,says; “This is an effective way of provid-ing counselling. Writing about one’sexperiences can itself be therapeutic andthe transcription allows for greater trans-parency as clients can go back and reviewprevious e-mails.”Online counselling records thoughts andfeelings, similar to journeying and is ameans to reach out to all age groups. Theservice has the power to reach out toclients that counselors typically wouldn’tget to work with. Catholic FamilyDevelopment Centre Executive Director,Rob Barrett, says; “For some people it isalmost a challenge getting to an office fora counselling session. With busy sched-ules and people living in remote or isolatedareas, clients now have the option to

receive counselling right at their fingertips,on their own terms.”Back in April of 2011, the three agenciesannounced that online counselling serviceswere coming to the web in Thunder Bay.Since then, ten counsellors have gonethrough training and are now certified toprovide the service.Those interested in online counselling cancontact the Thunder Bay CounsellingCentre, Children’s Centre Thunder Bay orthe Catholic Family Development Centre.All potential clients will go through a pre-screen process to ensure serious cases arehandled face-to-face. After determiningthat a client can get online treatment, theywill be provided with a website to go to,where they can securely register and loginto their very own confidential e-mail sys-tem.A leading grant maker in Canada, theOntario Trillium Foundation strengthensthe capacity of the voluntary sectorthrough investments in community-basedinitiatives. An agency of the Governmentof Ontario, OTF builds healthy and vibrantcommunities. There are many benefits tobe realized for clients with the newlydeveloped online counselling services.From time constraints, physical mobility,cost of travel, even if it is just across town,transcripts of sessions for reflection andmany more benefits. For further informa-tion, please contact Intake Services at(807)684-1880. Web sites are www.tbay-counselling.com , www.childrenscentre.ca, www.catholicfamilycentre.ca .

TORONTO: June 20, 2012. . . BrentBattistelli, Chair of Canadian Federationof Independent Grocers (CFIG), John F.T.Scott, President and CEO, and the CFIGBoard of Directors are pleased toannounce Yuri Stezenko of QualityMarket as a 2012 recipient of CFIG’sprestigious Life Member Designation.

In March of 1949, Yuri Stezenko came toCanada at the age of nine. His familyfled the Communist regime and the sec-ond Great War. They settled in the smallvillage of Hurkett, Ontario and Yuribegan his education in a small one-roomschool. Five years later, the familymoved to Port Arthur, Ontario (nowcalled Thunder Bay.)

It was there that he began his grocerycareer, when he was hired by CanadaSafeway as a courtesy clerk. Yuri hadaspirations of entering the diplomaticfield, but the offer of a promotion toassistant manager changed his careerpath. After more than thirty years, man-aging numerous stores and acting asrelief district manager, Yuri was offeredan opportunity to open his own store.

This lined up well with his passion toserve his community and his life-longdesire to have his own business. So itwas with much prayer and the support ofhis wife and three children that the deci-sion was made to purchase their first

store. Thus, Quality Market was born in1988, and seven years later another storewas acquired.

Yuri could not have envisioned a state-of-the-art Quality Market Fresh store pro-viding fresh and prepared foods for shut-ins and busy professionals, nor on-lineshopping for local customers and as anoutreach to northern communities. Butthese are some of the ways the companyis growing.

After more than 49 years in the grocerybusiness, Yuri retired and turned thestores over to his two sons, David andDan.

“For years, Yuri was the unofficial torch-bearer for grocers in North WesternOntario” said John Scott, President andCEO of CFIG. “The passion and dedica-tion he displayed towards his craft wasinfectious and his commitment to CFIG

has rubbed off on his sons David andDan, who continue to carry on theStezenko name as leading entrepreneursin Thunder Bay.”

Yuri Stezenko will be officially recog-nized on Monday October 1st at GroceryInnovations Canada 2012, Canada’s pre-mier grocery exposition and conference,during CFIG’s Luncheon of Honour, tak-ing place at the Metro TorontoConvention Centre.

The Canadian Federation of IndependentGrocers (CFIG) is a non-profit tradeassociation founded in 1962, which con-tinues to be a collaborative community,equipping and enabling independent,franchised and specialty grocers for sus-tainable success. Representing over 4000grocery retailers from every part ofCanada, CFIG is a strong and unitedvoice for independent grocers, providingprograms for operational excellence,facilitating educational and training pro-grams and fostering enabling-relation-ships among retailers and suppliers. CFIGis a respected organization that speaksconfidently for its retail members toindustry, government, and the consumer.

YURI STEZENKO 2012 Recipient of the Life MemberDesignation

PAGE 4 THUNDER BAY BUSINESS AUGUST 2012

ONLINE COUNSELLING GOES LIVE IN THUNDER BAY

Engineering Northwest Ltd.

Ph: 807-623-3449 Fax: 623-5925#301-200 s. Syndicate Ave Thunder Bay, Ont P7E 1C9

www.enl-tbay.com

CONSULTING ENGINEERSFULL RANGE OF ENGINEERING SERVICES - Project Management,Feasibility studies, Preliminary and Detailed Design, Engineering andConstruction Surveys, Contract Administration and Site InspectionFIELDS OF SERVICE - Water and Sewer Systems, LandDevelopment/Subdivisions, Highways and Roads, Traffic Studies,Bridges, Water and Sewage Treatment, Landfill Sites, Airports, Marinas,Environmental Assessments. Phase 1 Site Assessments

THUNDER BAY BUSINESS AUGUST 2012 PAGE 5


Continued from Previous Page

Today Smith’s RV Centre is a good-sized business with a full time staff of 30.They carry between $3.5 to $5 million dol-lars in retail inventory. The business alsoowns another 6000 square foot location onSquier Street they use for storage. Smith’sRV Centre specializes in RV, marine,snowmobile and ATV. The regular towbehind trailer is the most popular productfor them today. The company is part ofwhat is known as the dealer 20 group,which is a grouping of similar businessesas theirs located across Canada. It givesthem better insight into how other dealersacross Canada operate. “ We can shareinformation and help each other to bringthe levels of the group overall up.” saidJason. “ We have the largest parts store ofanyone in our group across Canada. Forareas of the same population we are a largestore. In larger centers like Toronto theyare bigger.”“ At Smith’s RV Centre we are famous for

our parts store as it is a lot bigger than theaverage store across Canada and the US.We can serve the clients better.” said ScottSmith.

“ In NW Ontario we serve a zone 4hours around us but we don’t go into theUS. We encourage customers outside ofour zone to use their local dealer,” said

Sherry Johnstone, who performs controllerduties at Smith’s RV Centre.

Smith’s RV Center is continuallyimproving their main Cobalt Crescentlocation “ You have to keep up the build-ing, its usability and presentation.Customers like to go into an area that is

clean, nice, new and updated. You don’twant to look tired. We want to make surewe are clean, friendly and fresh,” saidJason Johnstone. This year a new floorwas installed at Smith’s RV Centre.

What's on the horizon for Smith’s RVCentre?“ Short term we want to work with our

staff on process and procedures to get bet-ter and serve the client well. You need toimprove. You get better, improve you sys-tems and can offer customers products forless or equivalent money.” said JasonJohnstone.

Continued Next Page

THUNDER BAY BUSINESS AUGUST 2012

Continued from Previous Page

“ It is an interesting business climatenow, much more technical than in the past.It has totally changed from when we start-ed. It takes a lot of energy to keep up withall the product lines and training your staff.The technology changes every 3 months,”said Scott Smith. “ Comparing the RV of

today to say 1990 you get much more thanwhat you got in many years. For what youget today it is cheaper than buying in1990.”

Brad Johnstone is the Shop Foreman atSmith’s RV Centre and the brother of

General Manager, Jason Johnstone. “ Myrole is to train and supervise mechanics inthe back shop and help with customerservice. Service is our number one goal.”

Brad Johnstone and Jason Johnstone willassume ownership of the Smith’s RVCentre in the upcoming years. Brad’s jobtitle will remain the same but he will takeon a greater role with more emphasis onmorale and taking care of the staff andcustomers in a different way. Service man-ager Bart Foglia will remain in his role.

“ I love dealing with people. It is veryrewarding when you can see a customerleave with a smile on their face. Also feel-ing your employees are happy workinghere and your customers are just as happyis important. It goes hand in hand that theemployees and customers are both happyand treated fairly.” said Brad Johnstone.

Today the economy in Thunder Bay isvery strong according to Jason Johnstone.“The traffic flow is as good as I ever seenit here. People are excited about buyingtoys and enjoying their life away fromwork, spending time with their families onthe water or what have you. It is a strongas I have seen it in the last 10 years. Weare excited about the prospects for theeconomy. It has changed quite a bit overthe last decade and I see a lot of poten-tial.,” said Jason Johnstone.

Brad and Jason Johnstone will assume ownership at Smith’s RVCentre in the upcoming years to carry on the family tradition.


The parts department of Smith’s RV Centre is one of the largest inCanada. Humble beginnings on the porch and the progression began.


Above: Early beginnings of Smith’s RV Centre in Dorion, OntarioTechnology today has really changed the business.


Side: Jason Johnstone, General Manager, Sherry Johnstone,Controller, Scott Smith, owner, Doris and Alex Smith, founders of

Smith’s RV Centre

The current day showroom features a huge display of parts andaccessories!


The west coast of North America isalways a nice place to visit and during thelast week of April I had the opportunity totravel to the San Diego, California areaand specially the famed La Costa resort.Your trip to La Costa is really quite easywith a short flight to Toronto from myhome city of Thunder Bay, Ontario toToronto and then a direct Air Canadaflight to San Diego. You will arrive a t1pm at the San Diego airport and after a30 minute car ride enter the beautiful 450acre La Costa grounds. As the LAX airportat Los Angeles got bigger and reachedtheir capacity the San Diego airport bene-fits with more direct flights. They alsohave the John Wayne Airport just North ofhere some 45 miles at Carlsbad.

Paul Joseph McCormick is the VicePresident and General Manager of LaCosta located in Carlsbad, California. Hegrew up in the Niagara Falls, New Yorkside and came often to Trout Lake, Ontarionear Barrie Bay in Canada where his fami-ly still owns a cottage. Paul went to col-lege in Las Vegas, spent 6 years workingin Hawaii, opened the Luxor in Las Vegasand worked at the Grand Traverse Resort,Michigan and PGA West Barton Creekbefore coming to La Costa.

The La Costa property was originally builtin 1965 and at that time it was the place togo with a destination spa, one of the firstin the US and a beautiful golf course. “ Inthose days the men's side of the spa wasabout 2 1/2 times the size of the ladies spa.Then the old cronies would go in and getmassages. Today it has all changed. Theladies spa is about 2 1/2 times the size ofthe men's.” said McCormick.

Through the years La Costa has had a highprofile holding 37 PGA events and alsohaving an array of the Hollywood set visit.Even recently they have had many celebri-ties like actors, TV personalities and sportsfigures so La Costa has a rich history. Inthe old days the Rat Pack would do awarm up here with their lounge show andafter that take a break and go to LasVegas.

Once you are at La Costa you are with in aclose distance to many other areas includ-ing 1 1/2 hours up the road to LosAngeles. La Costa was built in 1965, hadits hay day and then a Japanese companybought it. They experienced some troubleand KSL bought it in 2001 and started afull renovation process. KSL owns ClubCorp which has 160 golf clubs includingthe Club Link properties in Canada,Western Athletic Clubs, the Squaw Valleyski area, Orion Cruise Lines in addition tothe KSL resorts which has 6 properties.Their head offices are in Denver.

In 2006 KSL sold the property to GoldmanSachs and retained the management con-tract . They owned it for 4 years until 2010and then KSL brought the property backfrom Goldman Sachs because they werehaving a rough go, as it was a tough timeto be in the hotel business.

" After buying the property back we start-ed a $50 million renovation which includ-ed the Champions Golf Course, all of ourfood and beverage outlets, the meetingspace, guest rooms and our retail outlets as

well as the overall aesthetics of the resort,”said McCormick. “ It is a stunning place.Our plans are to move forward with someimprovements to the second course includ-ing fairways, tees, greens, irrigation andthen the aesthetics. On the Championscourse 75% of the work we completed youcan’t even see, as it was all underground.We wanted proper drainage.”

La Costa is located on 450 acres on primereal estate in Southern California with atremendous location an hour from OrangeCounty, 1 1/2 hour from LA and 30 min-utes north of downtown San Diego. Theyare in a sweet spot with a good density ofpopulation. La Costa has 610 rooms at theresort ranging from villa products with 3bedrooms to your standard hotel rooms,some on the course and other near privatepools. The property is spread out morecampus style so there is lots of walking toenjoy the gardens and foliage. La Costahas received many accolades including thenumber 1-wellness spa in the nation.

“ We leveled the first spa and rebuilt thisbrand new spa in 2003/4. It has it’s owncourtyard and cafe, separate pool, romanwaterfall showers and 42 treatment rooms.We were the originals in SouthernCalifornia. We look at ourselves as a well-ness destination where 12 months of theyear you can be outside. Our philosophy isfresh air equals fresh thinking. Our guestsspend 80% of their time out side. The SanDiego weather is probably our most won-derful benefit here at La Costa,” smilesPaul McCormick. “ We also have DeepakChopra’s world wide headquarters righthere on the grounds of La Costa. La Costahas something for everybody. As a familywe have waterslides and pools, great camp pro-grams and a kid center where you candrop your kid's off and mom and dad cango to the spa or go golfing and have awonderful vacation. The kids do as well.We have guys groups which come andplay some golf, watch some sports, have acocktail and can relax with our wonderfuladult .The ladies have the spa which isgreat.”

At La Cost a package is the best option forguests which can include a spa, golf and

room package which can run for a couplefrom $600 to $800 night. La Costa offersso much to do with 42 different classesevery week in fitness as part of your expe-

rience. The resort is also located 1 1/2miles from the ocean. Another very uniqueaspect of La Costa is the close proximitythey have to golf companies Calloway,Taylor Made, Titleist and Cobra Puma. Infact Cobra Puma have their testing centrelocated right at La Costa. Since Marchthey also have the PGA Tour Academy, thewest coast facility, right here at La Costa.You can visit Calloway for instance and doa tour, which is pretty spectacular. You caneven get fitted for clubs there. The manu-facturers chose to be here because of theconsistent weather where they can testtheir product in a wonderful environment.

The Champions course at La Costa hasbeen totally renovated. “ We took about 30acres of turf grass and replaced it withnative grasses moving in a green directionsaving on water costs.” said DamianPascuzzo who along with partner formerPGA Tour and Champions Tour playerSteve Pate and architect Jeff Brauerreturned the course to world class standardfor which it had become famous. JeffBrauer helped with 30% on the work. “The flood water now stays in the roughaway from the fairways.”

“ Steve Pate and I started working togetherin 2003 and joined formally in 2006. Wemade 23 visits to the course during con-

struction. It was a fast track renovation.They wanted better playing conditions toovercome the reputation of being wet andsoggy. The bones were bad and needed anew irrigation system. Our soils were highin salts and the sand capping we didhelped flushing that out. The soils were achallenge to work with. Sand capping thefairways allowed the water to stay longenough to feed the grasses but then drainaway.”

La Costa is one of the most beautiful prop-erties I have visited in my frequent travelsaround the world. The grounds are justbeautifully maintained and the over1000staff members at La Costa make your timethere very enjoyable. The recent renova-tions make your living accommodationsfirst class and your dining, golf and spaexperiences excellent. You should makeyour next vacation La Costa.

Travel Feature : The Next La CostaGolf, Spa, and Food Equals Relaxation

BY SCOTT A. SUMNERThunder Bay BUSINESS


by Jeff MowattWhether it's fair or not, we are often judgedon first impressions. This harsh reality isnowhere better seen than in today's ultra-fastbusiness world where customers size-you-upin a nano-second based on your personalimage. Since their impression of you willdetermine whether or not they want to dobusiness with you, the impact on your careerand on your organization's bottom line canbe staggering.Ironically, when corporations bring me in tospeak at conventions on how to boost cus-tomer retention, I often find that there's beenlittle or no professional training for employ-ees about personal image. Since it's oftenawkward to confront employees on thesesensitive issues, you need some ammunitionto make the task easier. Here are 4 image-related reasons that customers may not likeyou or your employees. Incidentally, cus-tomers will never tell you these reasons toyour face -- they'll simply do business else-where.1. You look different than expected.Customers prefer conducting business withindividuals who meet their visual expecta-tions. So if you want to keep customers,dress in a manner that customers expect. Aplumber dressed in an Armani suite makesthe client uncomfortable. An alderman inkhaki shorts would shock the council mem-bers of City Hall. A waitress with too muchmakeup, sporting tattoos and body piercingwould likely put off a patron in an upscalerestaurant. On the other hand, a bar tender ina conservative suit and tie may appall a cus-tomer in an alternative nightclub."But that's not fair!" decry so many employ-ees at the thought of being told what to wear.Again, first impressions may not be fair, butthey are the realities of the business world.You hire employees to take care of cus-tomers -- not for the sake of expressing theirsartorial individuality. They can do that ontheir own time. Your job as a business owneror manager is to create an environment,including staff wardrobe, where your cus-tomers feel comfortable.The most effective way to convey this mes-sage to employees is to have a written dresscode. When writing your code, it's best tocheck with an attorney for the laws that

apply in your jurisdiction. The great thingabout a dress code is it often weeds outwould-be applicants who wouldn't feel com-fortable in that environment. That's better foreveryone.". . . many employees tell customers morethan they want to hear."2. You're hard to understand.Customers don't want to strain themselves tounderstand front line staff. If you or otheremployees don't speak the local languageclearly, then customers will generally go toyour competitors where they won't have towork so hard to communicate -- or to spendtheir money. This is doubly important whenspeaking on the telephone, where customersdon't have the benefit of non-verbal commu-nication to help them interpret what's beingsaid.This concept has nothing to do with discrim-ination based on ethnic differences ornationality. It has to do with basic communi-

cation skills that areessential to do thejob. If it's a questionof improving yourknowledge of thelocal language, thentake courses untilyou're fluent and easyto understand– not

just enough to get by.3. You exaggerate.Don't exaggerate to tell customers what theywant to hear. If a task will take 15 minutesto complete, don't say, "It'll only be 5 or tenminutes." This is called lying. Customershate that. Organizations that stay in businessover the long term, adhere to the age-oldadage, under promise and over deliver. 'Nuffsaid.4. You're indiscreet.'Indiscreet' describes the cashier at a self-serve gas station who chatted with hisfriends while I entered to pay. He barelystopped his conversation with his buddies totake my money. I felt like I was crashing aprivate party. I never went back.

While this obvious display of rudeness isrelatively rare, a much more common exam-ple is when employees converse amongstthemselves in front of the customer.

Numerous times I've been on airplanes whenthe flight attendants, while rolling food cartsdown the aisles, are so engaged in their per-sonal conversations that they barely stoplong enough to take the dinner orders.Meanwhile every passenger has to listen totheir private conversations, whether theywant to or not.

To top-off the indiscretion list, far too manyemployees inadvertently tell customers morethan they want to hear. For example, when acustomer asks a front line employee, "Howare you?", they really don't want to hearcomplaints. It's just a greeting. Yet someemployees take this as an excuse to com-plain with, "Oh, I'm 60-40", or as a securityguard once told me, "I'm vertical." (Yikes)!Some employees respond with, "I'll be greatwhen my break starts." In other words, theemployee will be happy as soon as he or shecan get away from their job and us -- thecustomers. All of these indiscretions makecustomers wish they were dealing with pro-fessionals.

There is hope.

Awareness of these problems is half the bat-tle. A lot of employees simply don't realizethey're committing these offenses. Anotherpart of the solution is training. Bringing in aprofessional trainer to address the employeesas a group provides the advantage of thirdparty objectivity, in a fun non-threateningmanner. One thing is clear though, if you donothing about these issues, your businesswill continue to suffer without anyone elsetelling you why.

Customer service strategist and professionalspeaker, Jeff Mowatt is an authority on TheArt of Client Service . . . Influence withEase®. For Jeff's other tips, self-studyresources, and training services on image,click Enhancing Your Professional Image.

This article is based on the criticallyacclaimed book Becoming a Service Icon in90 Minutes a Month, by customer servicestrategist and professional speaker JeffMowatt. To obtain your own copy of hisbook or to inquire about engaging Jeff foryour team, visit www.jeffmowatt.com or call1.800.JMowatt (566.9288).

THUNDER BAY CELEBRATES THE COMPLETIONOF PHASE ONE AT PRINCE ARTHUR'S LANDING

July 20, 2012 – Thunder Bay residentstoday celebrate the completion of PhaseOne of Prince Arthur’s Landing at MarinaPark.The completion of the first phase of thiswaterfront development project involvedthe construction of a Water GardenPavilion, an Art’s centre, a splash pad thattransforms into a skating rink during win-ter months, and the unique “Spirit Garden”that will allow people to participate inrecreational and cultural activities.Additional work to improve this waterfrontattraction included the renewal and expan-sion of the trails, relocation of the break-walls, and installation of electrical servic-es, water systems and foundation piles forpiers.“Prince Arthur’s Landing is an important

gathering place for the community and willremain a dynamic tourist destination foryears to come,” said the Honourable PeterVan Loan, Leader of the Government inthe House of Commons and Member ofParliament for York–Simcoe, on behalf ofthe Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister ofTransport, Infrastructure and Communities.“Our government is proud to support com-munity infrastructure projects that createjobs, stimulate the local economy andimprove the quality of life of Thunder Bayfamilies.”

“Infrastructure investments such as thisone create jobs and opportunities forOntario families,” said the HonourableMichael Gravelle, Minister of NaturalResources and Member of ProvincialParliament for Thunder Bay–Superior

North. “The Ontario government is proudto contribute to this project that ensures ourrenewed waterfront will become an impor-tant new community hub in Thunder Bay.”“This project was about building our com-munity, and it has already had a very posi-tive impact on our economy by creatinghundreds of jobs, and employing dozens of

local companies,” said Thunder Bay MayorKeith Hobbs. “The sheer size and scope ofthis project is amongst the largest in ourcity’s history, and it represents an invest-ment by all levels of government and theprivate sector of well over $100 million.”The governments of Canada and Ontariocontributed $14.65 million each toward eli-gible project costs through theInfrastructure Stimulus Fund. Through theNorthern Ontario Development Program,the Government of Canada contributed anadditional $2 million towards the designand contract administration, and $47,000for an economic impact study and projectbusiness plan. The Province of Ontario,through the Northern Ontario HeritageFund Corporation, contributed an addition-al $5 million towards infrastructure andpublic attractions to facilitate additionalprivate sector investments and $100,000towards an advanced energy study andLEED (Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design) certification. TheCity of Thunder Bay has contributed theremaining balance of the total project costof $58 million.

This project also supports BuildingTogether, the Government of Ontario’slong-term infrastructure plan to repair,rebuild and renew the province’s roads and

highways, bridges, public transit, schoolsand postsecondary institutions, hospitalsand courthouses. Through BuildingTogether, Ontario plans to invest more than$35 billion over the next three years to cre-ate or preserve over 100,000 jobs on aver-age each year. Infrastructure investmentscreate high-quality employment, supporteconomic growth and helps make Ontario’seconomy more productive

Michael Gravelle, MPP Minister“ When one looks around here and sees thereaction of the public here it is just extraor-dinary. Being a Port Arthur boy myselfthe waterfront is a big part of all of ourlives. It is great to see this Phase 1 com-pleting. Today is wonderful. The public hasembraced the waterfront. I am proud as acitizen of Thunder Bay and a member ofthe provincial government.”

Peter Van Loan, Member of Parliament“ Quality of life is more important as towhere people will live today. Thunder Bayhas done a very brilliant job in this proj-ect combining an urban waterfront envi-ronment. It is a place that is very attrac-tive to people. The waterfront may providerenewed confidence to Thunder Bay.”

The Shocking Truth About Your Image

Thunder Bay Business August 2012 colour

Documents

Transcript of Thunder Bay Business August 2012 colour